May 2019

The idea of the group is to reinforce best practice, which in nine out of 10 cases is to say “no, I’ll provide the parts thanks.” If the customer does not like it, then they don’t belong within those four walls we have talked about. “Best of luck out there in the free market” should be your response. Take back control Why did anyone ever say yes in the first place though? Don’t say money – that’s not the reason, it’s just the result and the reward. Perhaps it comes down to a phrase made up of five little words: “The customer is always right.” This is accepted as an axiom, as folk wisdom, and as standard customer relations spiel. How useful is it really though, and how true is it? When it comes to the modern business of fixing a car, I would suggest it is often entirely useless, and usually outright disingenuous. When what you are doing is so complex, and there are so many ways to get it wrong for an expert, how can a total amateur be right? That is not to say you shouldn’t listen to the customer. After all, one of the first rules of successful fault diagnosis is to ask the customer what the problem is. Those that are mechanically sensitive to their cars will probably steer you in a good direction. I’m one of those customers. I’m a pain actually; I turn up with a list of symptoms and my various suggestions as to where the fault might lie. I’m usually right too. That said, I wouldn’t take advice from me on how to fix the fault though. There’s a reason why you’re at the garage with your head in the engine bay getting into the nitty gritty and I’m sitting behind a desk typing. I expect you to take my information and use that to give you a steer. I’ll be sipping coffee, writing this article waiting for you to call me to tell me what the problem is. Why? It is because you are in charge of this process, not me. The problem with giving way to the customer past the point where a positive professional exchange becomes surrender is that you are losing control of your own process. That’s right, you are ceding your professional sovereignty. Not to sound pushy, but it comes down to the issue of control, and who is in charge of the exchange. It should be the business – the customer comes to you with a problem, and you find a solution. If the customer comes to you with the problem, then pushes their solution on you, and also slings some parts your way, it is fair to say that they are in charge of the exchange. They are not set up for this though, even if they think they are. You are the one who provides the analysis and the solution. To do this you have invested in premises, staff, training, parts, consumables, equipment, and also marketing and advertising. After all, if you didn’t shout about where you are, they would not be able to find you. The customer is always right, up to a point. It is at that point you take on the process and provide the solution. The trick is to understand this, and take ownership of the process. Most people running businesses will understand this instinctively. It is easy to forget when you are busy though. You just need to take some time to remember what drove you to undertake opening a business in the first place; a desire to do the work the right way, that is to say, the way you want to do it. Faster horses As Henry Ford probably never said: “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” There is some virtue to this sentiment. Don’t give customers what they think they want. What you can provide is likely to exceed their expectations. Go beyond and they will flock to you. That isn’t to say you should not listen to them. Take the example of customers and their Chinese Ebay purchase parts. While it is irritating to have to set a potential customer straight, there is something to be learned from the process. The key one is that they don’t understand what you do. They certainly don’t understand your business model either, but then again why should you. You would think they might understand about their own safety however. At this point, 30 years after the world-wide web was born, and over 20 years into internet 10 AFTERMARKET MAY 2019 BIG ISSUE www.aftermarketonline.net